Received 6/15/ :25:11 AM Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Filed 6/15/ :25:00 AM Commonwealth Court 261 MD 2017

Transcription

1 Received 6/15/ :25:11 AM Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Filed 6/15/ :25:00 AM Commonwealth Court 261 MD 2017 Mary M. McKenzie Attorney ID No Michael Churchill Attorney ID No Benjamin D. Geffen Attorney ID No Public Interest Law Center 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 2nd Floor Philadelphia PA Telephone: Facsimile: David P. Gersch* John A. Freedman* R. Stanton Jones* Helen Mayer Clark* Daniel F. Jacobson* John Robinson* MaryAnn Almeida* ARNOLD & PORTER KAYE SCHOLER LLP 601 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC Telephone: Facsimile: * Not admitted in Pennsylvania, admitted in the District of Columbia. Pro hac vice motion to be filed. Steven L. Mayer* ARNOLD & PORTER KAYE SCHOLER LLP 10th Floor Three Embarcadero Center San Francisco, CA Telephone: Facsimile: * Not admitted in Pennsylvania, admitted in California. Pro hac vice motion to be filed.

2 Andrew D. Bergman* ARNOLD & PORTER KAYE SCHOLER LLP Suite Louisiana Street Houston, TX Telephone: Fax: * Not admitted in Pennsylvania, admitted in Texas. Pro hac vice motion to be filed. IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PENNSYLVANIA, CARMEN FEBO SAN MIGUEL, JAMES SOLOMON, JOHN GREINER, JOHN CAPOWSKI, GRETCHEN BRANDT, THOMAS RENTSCHLER, MARY ELIZABETH LAWN, LISA ISAACS, DON LANCASTER, JORDI COMAS, ROBERT SMITH, WILLIAM MARX, RICHARD MANTELL, PRISCILLA MCNULTY, THOMAS ULRICH, ROBERT MCKINSTRY, MARK LICHTY, LORRAINE PETROSKY, v. Petitioners, THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA; THE PENNSYLVANIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY; THOMAS W. WOLF, IN HIS CAPACITY AS GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA; MICHAEL J. STACK III, IN HIS CAPACITY AS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA AND PRESIDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SENATE; MICHAEL C. TURZAI, IN HIS CAPACITY AS SPEAKER OF THE PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; JOSEPH B. SCARNATI III, IN HIS CAPACITY AS PENNSYLVANIA SENATE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE; PEDRO A. CORTÉS, IN HIS CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA; JONATHAN M. MARKS, IN HIS CAPACITY AS COMMISSIONER OF THE BUREAU OF COMMISSIONS, ELECTIONS, AND LEGISLATION OF THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Respondents. No.

3 NOTICE You have been sued in court. If you wish to defend against the claims set forth in the following pages, you must take action within thirty (30) days, or within the time set by order of the court, after this petition for review and notice are served, by entering a written appearance personally or by attorney and filing in writing with the court your defenses or objections to the claims set forth against you. You are warned that if you fail to do so the case may proceed without you and a judgment may be entered against you by the court without further notice for any money claimed in the complaint or for any other claims or relief requested by the plaintiff. You may lose money or property or other rights important to you. You should take this paper to your lawyer at once. If you do not have a lawyer or cannot afford one, go to or telephone the office set forth below to find out where you can get legal help. Dauphin County Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service 213 North Front Street Harrisburg, PA (717) AVISO Le han demandado a usted en la corte. Si usted quiere defenderse de estas demandas expuestas en las paginas siguientes, usted treinta (30) dias de plazo al partir de la fecha de la demanda y la notificacion. Hace falta asentar una comparencia escrita o en persona o con un abogado y entregar a la corte en forma escrita sus defensas o sus objections a las demandas en contra de su persona. Sea avisado que si usted no se defiende, la corte tomara medidas y puede continuar la demanda en contra suya sin previo aviso o notification. Ademas, la corte puede decider a favor del demandante y require que usted cumpla con todas las provisiones de esta demanda. Usted puede perer dinero o sus propiedades u otros derechos importantes para usted. Lleva esta demanda a un abogado immediatamente. Si no tiene abogado o si no tiene el dinero suficiente de pagar tal sevicio. Vaya en persona o llame por telefono a la oficina cuya direccion se encuentra escrita abajo para averiguar donde se puede consequir alstencia legal. Colegio de Abogados de Condado de Dauphin Abogado Servicio de Referencia 213 North Front Street Harrisburg, PA (717)

4 David P. Gersch Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 601 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC Mary M. McKenzie Attorney ID No Public Interest Law Center 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 2nd Floor Philadelphia, PA Counsel for Petitioners; Additional Counsel Appear on Signature Page IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PENNSYLVANIA, CARMEN FEBO SAN MIGUEL, JAMES SOLOMON, JOHN GREINER, JOHN CAPOWSKI, GRETCHEN BRANDT, THOMAS RENTSCHLER, MARY ELIZABETH LAWN, LISA ISAACS, DON LANCASTER, JORDI COMAS, ROBERT SMITH, WILLIAM MARX, RICHARD MANTELL, PRISCILLA MCNULTY, THOMAS ULRICH, ROBERT MCKINSTRY, MARK LICHTY, LORRAINE PETROSKY, v. Petitioners, THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA; THE PENNSYLVANIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY; THOMAS W. WOLF, IN HIS CAPACITY AS GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA; MICHAEL J. STACK III, IN HIS CAPACITY AS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA AND PRESIDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SENATE; MICHAEL C. TURZAI, IN HIS CAPACITY AS SPEAKER OF THE PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; JOSEPH B. SCARNATI III, IN HIS CAPACITY AS PENNSYLVANIA SENATE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE; PEDRO A. CORTÉS, IN HIS CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA; JONATHAN M. MARKS, IN HIS CAPACITY AS COMMISSIONER OF THE BUREAU OF COMMISSIONS, ELECTIONS, AND LEGISLATION OF THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Respondents. No.

5 TO: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General 16th Floor, Strawberry Square Harrisburg, PA Pennsylvania General Assembly c/o Senator Joseph B. Scarnati III Senate President Pro Tempore Senate Box Harrisburg, PA Room: 292 Main Capitol Building c/o Representative Michael C. Turzai Speaker of the House 139 Main Capitol Building PO Box Harrisburg, PA Governor Thomas W. Wolf Office of the Governor 508 Main Capitol Building Harrisburg, PA Senator Joseph B. Scarnati III Senate President Pro Tempore Senate Box Harrisburg, PA Room: 292 Main Capitol Secretary Pedro A. Cortés Pennsylvania Department of State Office of the Secretary 302 North Office Building Harrisburg, PA Commissioner Jonathan M. Marks Pennsylvania Department of State Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation 210 North Office Building, 401 North Street Harrisburg, PA Lieutenant Governor Michael J. Stack III President of the Senate 200 Main Capitol Building Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Representative Michael C. Turzai Speaker of the House 139 Main Capitol PO Box Harrisburg, PA

6 NOTICE TO PLEAD You are hereby notified to file a written response to the enclosed Petition for Review within thirty (30) days from service hereof or a judgment may be entered against you. BY: /s/ Mary M. McKenzie Mary M. McKenzie Attorney ID No Public Interest Law Center 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 2nd Floor Philadelphia, PA Counsel for Petitioners

7 David P. Gersch Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 601 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC Mary M. McKenzie Attorney ID No Public Interest Law Center 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 2nd Floor Philadelphia, PA Counsel for Petitioners; Additional Counsel Appear on Signature Page IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PENNSYLVANIA, CARMEN FEBO SAN MIGUEL, JAMES SOLOMON, JOHN GREINER, JOHN CAPOWSKI, GRETCHEN BRANDT, THOMAS RENTSCHLER, MARY ELIZABETH LAWN, LISA ISAACS, DON LANCASTER, JORDI COMAS, ROBERT SMITH, WILLIAM MARX, RICHARD MANTELL, PRISCILLA MCNULTY, THOMAS ULRICH, ROBERT MCKINSTRY, MARK LICHTY, LORRAINE PETROSKY, v. Petitioners, THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA; THE PENNSYLVANIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY; THOMAS W. WOLF, IN HIS CAPACITY AS GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA; MICHAEL J. STACK III, IN HIS CAPACITY AS LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA AND PRESIDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA SENATE; MICHAEL C. TURZAI, IN HIS CAPACITY AS SPEAKER OF THE PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; JOSEPH B. SCARNATI III, IN HIS CAPACITY AS PENNSYLVANIA SENATE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE; PEDRO A. CORTÉS, IN HIS CAPACITY AS SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA; JONATHAN M. MARKS, IN HIS CAPACITY AS COMMISSIONER OF THE BUREAU OF COMMISSIONS, ELECTIONS, AND LEGISLATION OF THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Respondents. No.

8 PETITION FOR REVIEW ADDRESSED TO THE COURT S ORIGINAL JURISDICTION INTRODUCTION 1. This case is about one of the greatest threats to American democracy today: partisan gerrymandering. A partisan gerrymander occurs when the political party in control of redistricting redraws congressional or state legislative districts to entrench that party in power and prevent voters affiliated with the minority party from electing candidates of their choice. The result is that general election outcomes are rigged they are predetermined by partisan actors sitting behind a computer, not by the candidates, and not by the voters. 2. This practice is illegal and has been condemned by the Supreme Courts of the United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The U.S. Supreme Court has explained that [p]artisan gerrymanders... are incompatible with democratic principles. Ariz. State Legis. v. Ariz. Indep. Redist. Comm n, 135 S. Ct. 2652, 2658 (2015) (alterations omitted). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has written that a partisan gerrymander would violate the Pennsylvania Constitution when there was intentional discrimination against an identifiable political group that resulted in an actual discriminatory effect on that group. Erfer v. Commonwealth, 794 A.2d 325, 332 (Pa. 2002). A partisan gerrymander burdens rights of fair and effective representation by enabling one political party to entrench itself in power while diluting the votes of citizens who affiliate with the - 2 -

9 party out of power. Vieth v. Jubelirer, 541 U.S. 267, 312 (2004) (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment). 3. While neither political party has a monopoly on the practice, this case challenges the partisan gerrymandering of the Commonwealth s current congressional districts by the Republican majority in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Following the 2010 Census, Republican legislators dismantled Pennsylvania s existing congressional districts and stitched them back together with the goal of maximizing the political advantage of Republican voters and minimizing the representational rights of Democratic voters. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the districting plan that resulted (the 2011 Plan ), which was signed into law by the Republican then-governor, is one of the three most extreme gerrymanders in the nation. 1 Indeed, by some measures, Pennsylvania s gerrymander is the worst offender in the country The 2011 Plan was the product of a national movement by the Republican Party to entrench its own representatives in power by utilizing the latest advances in mapmaking technologies and big data to gerrymander districts more effectively than ever before. Republican mapmakers used sophisticated 1 Laura Royden & Michael Li, Extreme Maps, Brennan Center for Justice, at 1 (2017), available at 2 Id. at

10 computer modeling techniques, in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, to manipulate district boundaries with surgical precision to maximize the number of seats their party would win in future elections. 5. And their effort has been overwhelmingly successful. In 2012, Republican candidates won only 49% of the statewide congressional vote, but remarkably won 13 of 18 or 72% of Pennsylvania s congressional seats. In 2014 and 2016, Republican candidates retained the same 72% share of Pennsylvania s seats, even while winning only 55% and 54% shares of the statewide vote. 6. The 2011 Plan achieved these lopsided results by packing Democratic voters into five districts that are overwhelmingly Democratic, and cracking the remaining Democratic voters by spreading them across the other 13 districts such that Republicans constitute a majority of voters in each of these 13 districts. The result is a districting plan that is utterly unresponsive to and often flouts the will of voters. For example, even though Democratic candidates won 6 points more in the statewide vote in 2012 compared to 2014, the number of Democrats elected was no different across the two elections. 7. The composition of the enacted districts reflects how the Republicans responsible for redistricting achieved this partisan result. For example, the city of Reading a Democratic stronghold was carved out of the 6th Congressional - 4 -

11 District, where it would naturally reside, and placed into the 16th District, where Republicans made up the majority. Similarly, in the 17th District, the Democraticleaning cities of Scranton (in Lackawanna County), Wilkes-Barre (in Luzerne County), and Easton (in Northampton County) were packed into a district that was already reliably Democratic, removing any risk that Wilkes-Barre voters (who would reside in the 11th District if county boundaries were respected) would tilt the 11th District to Democrats. And in the 7th District, portions of the city of Chester were carved out by packing these voters into the reliably Democratic 1st District. 8. As illustrated infra at Paragraphs 55-59, these decisions resulted in district lines that are absurd. Pennsylvania s 7th Congressional District has been described as Goofy Kicking Donald Duck. 3 The 12th District could be mistaken for the boot of Italy. The 6th resembles the State of Florida, with perhaps a longer and more jagged Panhandle. These shapes lay bare the lengths that Republicans went to deny Petitioners and millions of other voters their constitutional rights and to lock in an artificial political advantage for Republicans. 3 Aaron Blake, Name That District Contest Winner: Goofy Kicking Donald Duck, Wash. Post, Dec. 29, 2011,

12 9. While the districts are so bizarrely engineered that the only fair inference is that the Republican mapmakers made them so for partisan advantage, this partisan purpose is confirmed by an array of statistical techniques. Indeed, just as modern technology enabled Republicans to accomplish their gerrymander with more precision than ever before, it can be used to expose this discrimination for what it is. Computer modeling used by political scientists demonstrates that the Republican bias of the enacted plan could not have resulted from the use of traditional redistricting criteria such as contiguity and compactness, and cannot be explained by any natural clustering of voters in Pennsylvania. Rather, it is a statistical certainty that the Republican bias of the enacted plan could have resulted only from impermissible partisan intent. 10. Other statistical tests further confirm that the enacted plan reflects a deliberate and successful effort to disadvantage Democratic voters. The efficiency gap, which a three-judge panel recently applied in striking down Wisconsin s state house districts, measures how many votes the enacted plan wastes for the disfavored party, relative to the favored party, through cracking and packing. See generally Whitford v. Gill, 218 F. Supp. 3d 837 (W.D. Wis. 2016), jurisdictional statement filed (U.S. Mar. 24, 2017) (No ). In 2012, the efficiency gap of Pennsylvania s congressional districts was the largest in the nation. Another test for identifying political gerrymandering is the mean-median - 6 -

13 gap, which measures the gap between the average Democratic vote share across the Commonwealth and Democratic vote share in the median district, i.e., the district either party would need to win to earn a majority of districts. Again, Pennsylvania s mean-median gap is one of the largest in the nation, reflecting the deliberate effort to maximize the number of seats Republicans win by packing Democrats into a few districts. 11. A variety of statistical modeling techniques and tests all lead to the same conclusion: the enacted plan could have resulted only from unconstitutional partisan intent, and the effect of that discrimination is significant and enduring. 12. Along with other forms of equitable relief, Petitioners seek a judicial declaration that the enacted plan, by discriminating against Democratic voters on the basis of their political expression and affiliation, violates the Pennsylvania Constitution. PARTIES A. Petitioners 13. The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania ( LWVPA ), a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. The League supports full voting and representational rights for all eligible - 7 -

14 Commonwealth citizens and opposes efforts to disadvantage or burden voters based on their political affiliation. 14. Petitioner Carmen Febo San Miguel is an Executive Director of a nonprofit cultural organization and a former physician who resides in the 1st Congressional District in Philadelphia. Febo San Miguel is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Democrats have won every congressional election in the 1st District under the 2011 Plan with over 80% of the vote, at times with the Democratic candidate running unopposed. 15. Petitioner James Solomon is a retired federal employee who resides in Philadelphia in the 2nd Congressional District. Solomon is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Democrats have won every congressional election in the 2nd District since 2002 with over 85% of the vote. 16. Petitioner John Greiner is a software engineer who resides in the 3rd Congressional District, in Erie, Erie County. Greiner is a registered Democrat and has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Before the 2011 Plan, the 3rd District was a competitive district: Republicans won in 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2010, while Democrats won in But the Republican representative, Mike Kelly, has comfortably won reelection in every election since the 2011 Plan, running unopposed in

15 17. Petitioner John Capowski is a law professor emeritus residing in Camp Hill, Cumberland County, in the 4th Congressional District. Capowski is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Prior to the 2011 Plan, the 4th District was a competitive district: Republicans won in 2002 and 2004, and Democrats won in 2006, 2008, and But the Republican representative, Scott Perry, has easily won reelection in every election since the 2011 Plan. 18. Petitioner Gretchen Brandt is a mother of two and a school board director residing in the 5th Congressional District, in State College, Centre County. Brandt is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Republicans have won every congressional election in the 5th District since Petitioner Thomas Rentschler is a former school teacher and attorney who resides in Exeter Township, Berks County, which falls in the 6th Congressional District. Rentschler is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. The 6th District had been an extremely competitive district under the prior congressional plan, with 4 of the 5 congressional elections decided by less than 5 points. But the 6th district has been far less competitive under the 2011 Plan, with the Republican representative winning each election by more than 12 points

16 20. Petitioner Mary Elizabeth Lawn is a chaplain at a retirement community who lives in Chester, Delaware County. Lawn is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Prior to the 2011 Plan, Lawn s home fell in the 1st Congressional District, which has consistently elected Democrats. But under the 2011 Plan, Lawn was moved to the 7th Congressional District, which has voted for Republicans by comfortable margins in every election since the redistricting. 21. Petitioner Lisa Isaacs is an attorney who resides in the 8th Congressional District in Morrisville, Bucks County. Isaacs is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Prior to the 2011 Plan, the 8th District was a competitive district: Republicans won in 2002, 2004, and 2010, while Democrats won in 2006 and Under the 2011 Plan, however, Republican candidates have won by 8 points or more in each election. 22. Petitioner Don Lancaster is a retired teacher who resides in Indiana County, in the 9th Congressional District. Lancaster is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Republicans have won every congressional election in the 9th District since 2002 with more than 60% of the vote

17 23. Petitioner Jordi Comas is an academic and chef residing in Lewisburg, Union County. Comas is a registered Democrat in Pennsylvania s 10th Congressional District who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Prior to the 2011 Plan, the 10th District was often a competitive district: Republicans won in 2002, 2004, and 2010, and Democrats won in 2006 and But the Republican representative, Tom Marino, easily won election in 2012 with over 65% of the vote and has been comfortably reelected ever since. 24. Petitioner Robert Smith, a retired health executive, resides in Bear Creek Village Borough, Luzerne County, in the 11th Congressional District. Smith is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Prior to the 2011 Plan, the 11th District was often a competitive district: Democrats won in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008, but were unseated in 2010 when a Republican, Lou Barletta, defeated the Democratic incumbent. Since the 2011 Plan, Lou Barletta has comfortably won reelection with about 60% of the vote. 25. Petitioner William Marx is a high school civics teacher and Army Reservist residing in Delmont, Westmoreland County, which falls in the 12th Congressional District. Marx is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Prior to the 2011 Plan, Democrats won every congressional election in the 12th District since 2002, often winning over

18 percent of the vote. Since redistricting, Republicans have won every election, winning by more than 18 points in the last two elections. 26. Petitioner Richard Mantell is a retired school administrator residing in Jenkintown, Montgomery County, which sits in the 13th Congressional District. Mantell is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Prior to the 2011 Plan, elections in the 13th District were generally competitive, with Democrats winning each election but with less than 60% of the vote in three out of five elections. But after Democratic voters were packed into the district under the 2011 Plan, Democrats won easily in 2012 and 2014 and ran unopposed in the 2016 election. 27. Petitioner Priscilla McNulty is a manager at a non-profit who resides in the 14th Congressional District in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County. McNulty is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Democrats have easily won every congressional election in the 14th District since Petitioner Thomas Ulrich is a retired school teacher who resides in Bethlehem, Lehigh County, falling in the 15th Congressional District. Ulrich is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Republicans have won every congressional election in the 15th District since

19 29. Petitioner Robert B. McKinstry, Jr. is an environmental attorney who resides in East Marlborough Township, Chester County, in the 16th Congressional District. McKinstry is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Republicans have won every congressional election in the 16th District since Petitioner Mark Lichty is a retired attorney and manufacturer who resides in East Stroudsburg, Monroe County, in the 17th Congressional District. Lichty is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Democrats have won every congressional election in the 17th District since Petitioner Lorraine Petrosky is a retired preschool teacher who resides in the 18th Congressional District in Latrobe, Westmoreland County. Petrosky is a registered Democrat who has consistently voted for Democratic candidates for Congress. Republicans have won every congressional election in the 18th District since 2002, almost always with more than 60% of the vote. B. Respondents 32. Respondent the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has its capital located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 33. Respondent the Pennsylvania General Assembly is the state legislature for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is comprised of the State

20 House and State Senate. The General Assembly convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 34. In Pennsylvania, the boundaries for congressional districts are redrawn every ten years after the national census by legislative action in a bill that proceeds through both chambers of the General Assembly and is signed into law by the Governor. In 2011, Republicans controlled every step of that process. Most of the Respondents named below were not involved in drafting Pennsylvania s current plan. They are named in their official capacities as parties who would be responsible for implementing the relief Petitioners seek. 35. Respondent Thomas W. Wolf is Governor of the Commonwealth and is sued in his official capacity only. As Governor, Respondent Wolf is responsible for signing bills into law as well as the faithful execution of the 2011 Plan. 36. Respondent Pedro A. Cortés is the Secretary of the Commonwealth and is sued in his official capacity only. In that capacity, he is charged with the general supervision and administration of Pennsylvania s elections and election laws. 37. Respondent Jonathan Marks is the Commissioner of the Bureau of Commissions, Elections, and Legislation of the Pennsylvania Department of State and is sued in his official capacity only. In that capacity, he is charged with the

21 supervision and administration of the Commonwealth s elections and electoral process. 38. Respondent Michael J. Stack III, the Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth, serves as President of the Pennsylvania Senate and is sued in his official capacity only. 39. Respondent Michael C. Turzai is the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and is sued in his official capacity only. 40. Respondent Joseph B. Scarnati III is the Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore and is sued in his official capacity only. JURISDICTION 41. The Court has original jurisdiction over this Verified Petition for Review pursuant to 42 Pa. Cons. Stat. 761(a). FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS A. National Republican Party Officials Target Pennsylvania For Partisan Gerrymandering 42. In the years leading up to the 2010 census, national Republicans leaders undertook a concerted effort to gain control of state governments in critical swing states such as Pennsylvania. The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) codenamed their plan the REDistricting Majority Project, or REDMAP. REDMAP s goal was to control[] the redistricting process in

22 states [that] would have the greatest impact on determining how both state legislative and congressional district boundaries would be drawn The RSLC intended that this project would solidify conservative policymaking at the state level and maintain a Republican stronghold in the U.S. House of Representatives for the next decade. 5 The REDMAP homepage explains that Republicans [had] an opportunity to create new Republican Congressional Districts through the redistricting process..., solidifying a Republican House majority Pennsylvania was a key REDMAP target state. As the second most populous swing state in the nation, Pennsylvania currently holds 18 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Pennsylvania is also one of only a handful of states that has consistently lost seats in the U.S. House of Representatives every ten years through reapportionment, having lost at least one House seat every ten years since These features of Pennsylvania s political landscape make it a prime target for partisan gerrymandering REDMAP Summary Report, Redistricting Majority Project (Jan. 4, 2013), 5 Id. 6 Redistricting Majority Project, (last visited June 9, 2017)

23 45. Heading into the November 2010 election, Democrats held the Pennsylvania House by a slim margin. The RSLC focused its resources on Pennsylvania in the 2010 election, targeting and winning three key house races that would swing control of the Pennsylvania House to Republicans. During that same election, Republicans also won the governorship, while retaining control of the Pennsylvania Senate. Thus, after the 2010 election, Republicans had exclusive control over congressional redistricting in Pennsylvania. The Republicans quickly set to work to redraw the congressional map in a way that would entrench the Republican Party s dominance in Pennsylvania s delegation to the U.S. House for the next decade. 46. On information and belief, Republicans, including key members of the Pennsylvania Senate and House Committees on State Government, communicated with Republican leaders in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere to create a plan that would maximize the number of Republicans elected to the U.S. House. 47. Mapmakers seeking to create a partisan gerrymander do so primarily through two means cracking and packing voters of the opposing political party into congressional districts that will dilute their political power. Cracking is achieved by dividing a party s supporters among multiple districts so that they fall short of a majority in each district. Packing involves concentrating one

24 party s backers in a few districts that they win by overwhelming margins to minimize the party s votes elsewhere. This cracking and packing results in wasted votes: votes cast either for a losing candidate (in the case of cracking) or for a winning candidate but in excess of what he or she needs to prevail (in the case of packing). 48. Republicans worked with highly skilled and partisan mapmakers to generate the most advantageous possible map for the Republican Party. Using sophisticated computer software and data such as voter registration information and election results, the Republicans mapmakers created a plan that virtually guaranteed the Republican Party would win in the large majority of Pennsylvania s congressional districts. Their entire aim was to burden the representational rights of Democratic voters, making it nearly impossible for Democrats in cracked districts to elect representative of their choice, and wasting the votes of Democrats in packed districts. 49. Democrats were not involved in the drawing of the map. The Republican mapmakers created the 2011 Plan through a secret process to avoid scrutiny from Democrats and the general public. C. Republicans Introduce Senate Bill On September 14, 2011, Republicans introduced their redistricting bill, Senate Bill The bill s primary sponsors were all Republicans: Majority

25 Floor Leader Dominic F. Pileggi, President Pro Tempore Joseph B. Scarnati III, and Senator Charles T. McIlhinney Jr. The Republican leadership went to extraordinary lengths to conceal their intent. 51. As introduced, Bill 1249 was simply an empty shell. It contained no map showing the proposed congressional districts. Each congressional district was described in the following fashion: The [Number] District is composed of a portion of this Commonwealth. The same held true through the second reading of the bill. This was a deliberate effort on the part of the Republicans to prevent Democrats and the public from understanding the nature of the Republicans redistricting plan. 52. Then, three months after they had introduced SB 1249, on the morning of December 14, 2011 the day of the vote on the bill the Republicans suddenly amended the bill to add for the first time the actual descriptions of the congressional districts. Once the details of the plan were released, it became clear why the Republicans had kept it a secret. 53. As explained below, SB 1249 represented, by any measure, one of the most extreme partisan gerrymanders in American history. One of Pennsylvania s leading political scientists, Franklin & Marshall political science professor Terry Madonna, described it as [t]he most gerrymandered map [he had] seen in the

26 modern history of our state. 7 Even Sean Trende, who testified in defense of Wisconsin s gerrymandered map in Whitford v. Gill, suggests that Pennsylvania s map might be the Gerrymander of the Decade To accomplish their gerrymander, Republicans packed Democrats into a group of Rorschach-inkblot districts, 9 and then cracked the rest into districts that would vote reliably Republican. Michael Barone and Chuck McCutcheon, writing for The Almanac of American Politics, described the plan as follows: The plan ruthlessly sewed the state, particular the Philadelphia suburbs, into a crazy quilt. Montgomery County, about the population of one district, was split five ways to boost the suburban Republican trio of Jim Gerlach, Mike Fitzpatrick, and Pat Meehan, who were happy to feed their trickiest inner suburbs to Philadelphia s Democrats. Mapmakers even awkwardly appended a portion of Amish Country to Meehan s 7th District. In the northeast, Republicans stuffed Blue Dog [Tim] Holden s 17th District with the liberal labor bastions of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Easton to relieve pressure on freshman Republican Lou Barletta in the 11th District and Charlie Dent in the Lehigh Valley s 15th. In the west, Republicans split the city of Erie to shore up freshman Mike Kelly and carefully merged [Jason] Altmire and [Mark] Critz in such a way that neither Democrat could plausibly run elsewhere but 7 Charles Thompson, Congressional Redistricting Puts Pa. Congressmen at a Distance, Harrisburg Patriot-News, Dec. 18, 2011, 8 Sean Trende, In Pennsylvania, the Gerrymander of the Decade?, Real Clear Politics (Dec. 14, 2011), _of_the_decade_ html. 9 Id

27 either would still be vulnerable in a general election. Sure enough, Critz defeated Altmire in a bitter primary and Republican Keith Rothfus defeated Critz in November. Back east, Holden lost his primary to a more liberal Democrat, and in November, Republicans held onto their other 12 seats without much of a fight. 55. The crazy quilt that the Republicans devised ignores all traditional redistricting criteria and serves no legitimate purpose. It fractures local political subdivisions rather than keeping them intact. For example, enough voters live in Montgomery County for that county to have its own congressional district. But, as seen below, under SB 1249, Montgomery County is split among five districts. 10 Not a single one of those five Congressmen lives in Montgomery County. Other counties such as Berks and Chester are similarly divided. 10 Dan Sokil, Fair Districts PA Urges Residents to Spread the Word of Redistricting Reform Effort, Times Herald, May 3, 2017, /JR/ /NEWS/

28 56. SB 1249 also resulted in district shapes that make the gerrymander obvious. For example, Pennsylvania s 6th District now looks like the State of Florida: 57. The 12th District looks like the boot of Italy:

29 58. And Pennsylvania s notorious 7th District Goofy kicking Donald Duck is spread out among five counties. At one point in King of Prussia, the district is so narrow that it is held together only by a Creed s Seafood & Steaks. At another point in Coatesville, it is only a medical endoscopy center that connects one part of the district to another

30 Creed s Seafood & Steaks Brandywine GI Associates (endoscopy center) 59. There is no legitimate, constitutionally permissible reason for drawing districts in this manner. As depicted below, the evolution of the 7th District over

31 time lays bare the lengths to which Republicans have gone to construct the district to their advantage The 2011 Plan for the entire state is shown in the appendix attached hereto. 61. Because of the way Republicans redrew district boundaries, members of entire communities are denied a right to cast a vote that has any meaning. For example, when Republicans redrew the 6th District, they carefully carved out the city of Reading to make the 6th safe for Republicans. They then forced Reading into the solidly Republican 16th district, where the votes of Democratic voters are virtually certain never to matter. As a result, Reading residents really... don t 11 Christopher Ingraham, What 60 Years of Political Gerrymandering Looks Like, Wash. Post, May 21, 2014,

32 have true representation[;] [their] voice is really muted because of the gerrymandering that s taken place in Pennsylvania Republicans used a similar technique in the 17th District, where they packed the Democratic-leaning cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Easton into a district that was already reliably Democratic, and removed any risk that Wilkes- Barre voters (which would reside in the 11th District if county boundaries were respected) would tilt the 11th District to the Democrats. 63. In the 7th District, Republicans carved out many Democratic voters in the city of Chester, packing them into the reliably Democratic 1st District. 64. Republicans packed minority voters into the 1st and 2nd Districts to waste their votes. The 1st District now has 66% minority voters, while the 2nd District now has 71% minority voters. Since the 2011 Plan, both districts have reliably produced super-majority votes for Democratic candidates of over 80% of the vote. In the 2nd District, the Democratic representative has won over 87% of the vote in every election since the 2011 Plan. 65. Republicans consistently redrew district lines to their advantage across the Commonwealth, taking one competitive district after another and 12 Lindsay Lazarski, Dividing Lines: How Pennsylvania s Elections Really Are Rigged, Keystone Crossroads,

33 transforming it into a safe Republican district. For example, under the 2003 plan, in the 11th District, 57.5% of voters voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. After redistricting, however, only 47.7% of voters were 2008 Obama voters, a 9.8% swing. 66. On the day the 2011 Plan was both revealed and voted upon in the Senate, Democratic Senators protested that the plan was partisan, that it was proposed with extremely short notice, and that the process lacked any transparency. As Democratic Senator Anthony H. Williams explained, [M]aybe if we had... transparency, openness, and most importantly, inclusion, we could have shared the responsibility of coming up with a[]... much more representative map. That is not what happened.... [W]e have a map that not one Democrat had anything to do with on this side of the aisle. 67. Democratic Senator Jay Costa unsuccessfully introduced an amendment to the Republican plan that he believed would create 8 districts favorable to Republicans, 4 districts favorable to Democrats, and 6 swing districts. 68. The Republican majority in the Pennsylvania Senate set SB 1249 for a vote on the very same day that they first publicly disclosed the descriptions of the new districts. The bill passed in the Senate by a vote of Not one Democratic Senator voted for the bill

34 69. On December 15, 2011 and December 20, 2011, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives considered SB As in the Senate, Democratic representatives vociferously objected to the lack of transparency in adopting the plan and to its partisan nature. 70. Democratic representative Dan Frankel observed that the plan was clearly an effort to entrench Republicans in power: [W]hat is taking place here today, in my view, is a very cynical attempt to institutionalize a Republican majority of congressional seats in Pennsylvania.... That is not good for our politics.... This is not the way we ought to be governing; to overreach, to go through contortions to create districts that are safe for a majority of Republican members of Congress is not good public policy. We ought to reject this. This is not good government; this is a very cynical way to do government. 71. Democratic Representative Frank Dermody similarly objected: [T]he way our system is supposed to work is that the voters are supposed to pick the politicians. With this map, the politicians pick the voters. This map sets up districts that are gerrymandered beyond recognition. 72. Democratic Representative Robert Freeman added: SB 1249 contains the worst case of gerrymandering in Pennsylvania in living memory.... A look at the configuration of the congressional district map of 1249 reveals twisted and

35 distorted districts that were drawn purely for political advantage, with no consideration for compactness of districts or communities of interest. 73. Democratic Representative Steve Samuelson protested about the lack of transparency: When this bill had first reading, the Senate had no plan [i.e., the bill had no substantive content]. When this bill had second reading, the Senate had no plan. The map was not revealed until December 13. The details... were not available until 9 a.m. on December [T]he public had about 14 hours to see the details. Now, since the Senate came out with their plan on Wednesday, the public has had a grand total of 5 days. 74. Democratic Representative Babette Josephs similarly protested the extraordinary lack of transparency in what she called a dreadful plan, noting that she had never before seen a hearing in this legislature on a blank bill. You could not tell, looking at the bill or looking for a map, what... the Republicans had in mind. 75. Democratic Representative Michael Hanna offered an amendment to create a fair redistricting map... [that] will minimize district splits in counties and municipalities and ensure equality of representation across the 18 congressional districts, but, as with Senator Costa s amendment, the House amendment failed

36 76. Notwithstanding Democratic opposition, SB 1249 passed in the House on December 20, 2011 by a vote of In the end, with passage of the bill a fait accompli because of the Republican majority, 36 Democrats voted for the bill. Pennsylvania s Republican Governor, Tom Corbett, signed the bill into law in time for the 2002 U.S. Congressional election. The 2011 Plan remains in effect today. D. Senate Bill 1249 Burdened the Representational Rights of Democratic Voters 77. Senate Bill 1249 achieved exactly the effect REDMAP intended. In the 2012 election, each party s share of the two-party vote in the districts the party won were as follows: District Democratic Vote Republican Vote % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % % Average in Districts 77.0% 59.3% Statewide Vote Share 50.8% 49.2%

37 78. The chart demonstrates how Republicans were able to rig the system so that Democrats could win only 5 of 18 districts even though Democrats won a majority 50.8% of statewide congressional votes in the 2012 election. The average winning percentage in districts Democrats won was an astronomical 77.3%, reflecting the packing of Democrats into five districts. Not a single winning Republican candidate earned this large a share of the vote in his district. Victorious Republican candidates all won by much smaller margins, winning between 51.7% and 65.6% of the vote, for an average winning percentage of only 59.3%. In other words, the 2011 Plan guaranteed that Democrats would win a small number of House seats by very large margins, while Republicans would win the lion s share of seats by much smaller, although still comfortable, margins. 79. Republican officials pointed out that the 2011 Plan enabled Republicans to win the Commonwealth s delegation even in years when Democrats outperformed them, boasting that Republicans had achieved a large majority of the congressional seats even as Democrats won the important statewide races: The impact of this investment at the state level in 2010 is evident when examining the results of the 2012 election: Pennsylvanians reelected a Democratic U.S. Senator by nearly 9 points and reelected President Obama by

38 more than 5 points, but at the same time they added to the Republican ranks in the State House and returned a 13-5 Republican majority to the U.S. House In 2014, Republicans won 55.5% of the statewide congressional vote and remained at 13 of 18 seats. Although the percentage of seats Republicans won 72% was still grossly disproportionate to their statewide vote share, it is nonetheless telling that Republicans won an extra 6 percentage points of the statewide congressional vote compared to 2012 but did not pick up any additional House seats. That is because the 2011 Plan is utterly unresponsive to the will of the voters. Democrats are locked into the 5 districts in which they are packed, and therefore do not lose and cannot gain seats with any normal swing in the statewide vote. 81. In 2016, the results were almost identical. Republicans won 53.9% of the statewide congressional vote and again won 13 of 18, or 72%, of the congressional seats. 82. In both the 2014 and 2016 elections, the margin of victory in districts Democrats won was far higher than the margin of victory in districts Republicans won; in 2014, the average vote share for successful Democratic candidates was 73.6%, as compared to 63.4% for successful Republicans candidates (excluding REDMAP Summary Report, The Redistricting Majority Project, (last visited June 7, 2017)

39 uncontested elections), and for 2016 the average vote share was 74.2% for successful Democratic candidates and 61.1% for successful Republican candidates (excluding uncontested elections). 83. That the 2011 Plan is the product of naked partisan gerrymandering is confirmed by any number of other measures. In recent years, political scientists and mathematicians have developed a number of sophisticated modeling techniques and tests to identify political gerrymanders. These tests each independently demonstrate the magnitude of the 2011 Plan s Republican bias, the fact that this bias could have resulted only from an intentional effort to benefit Republicans and to disadvantage Democrats. 84. One recognized way to test whether the 2011 Plan is the product of partisan bias is to ask whether observing traditional redistricting criteria such as contiguity, compactness, equal population, and minimizing county splits could reasonably be expected to produce a plan that yields the results generated by the actual 2011 Plan. The answer is a resounding no. 85. Political scientists can answer this question by using computer modeling to generate alternative plans that adhere to traditional redistricting

40 criteria but do not aim to advance partisan goals. 14 These alternative plans thus account for natural factors affecting the distribution of voters across the Commonwealth, such as any clustering of voters of a particular party into particular areas. 86. Performing this modeling for Pennsylvania congressional districts yields thousands of alternative plans that comply with traditional districting principles. But not one produces the partisan bias of the 2011 Plan. That is, using the actual voting results from past Pennsylvania statewide elections, and then interposing those voting results over the district boundaries in each alternative plan, not a single alternative plan produces a result in which Republicans would win a 13-5 advantage in Pennsylvania s congressional delegation. This modeling demonstrates, with statistical certainty, that the 13-5 Republican advantage under the 2011 Plan is not the result of neutral factors such as population clustering. Rather, the bias of the 2011 Plan is necessarily the result of an intentional effort to favor Republicans. 87. Mathematicians at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have developed an alternative modeling approach that also demonstrates 14 See, e.g., Jowei Chen, The Impact of Political Geography on Wisconsin Redistricting, 16 Election L.J. (forthcoming 2017),